New Delhi, Mar 25:
The government’s plan to implement the women’s reservation law by increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 from the present 543 may require carving out the new constituencies from the present seats, sources said on Tuesday.
To implement the women’s quota law even before the delimitation exercise, the government plans to bring two bills to reserve 273 seats for women.
By amending the Delimitation Act, the central government plans to create new 273 seats for women.
One plausible way is to carve out the new seats from the present 543, an official explained.
The official noted that while there are norms to reserve seats for scheduled castes and scheduled tribe, there is no yardstick at present to reserve seats for women.One way could be to go for a “draw of lots” to decide on the 273 seats proposed for women.To reserve similar 33 per cent seats for women in state legislative assemblies, a “pro rata” formula will be applied.
The data of the Census 2011 will be used for the redrawing of constituencies as the ongoing census is yet to be completed.